An uneasy peace was prevailing in Utnoor town in Adilabad district, which was rocked by communal violence over the weekend over some provocative messages on the social media. 500 policemen brought in from the other parts of the district were keeping a close watch on the situation as looted shops on the main road stood testimony to the mob violence.
In the attacks, allegedly carried out by the workers of Hindu Vahini, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, properties of the minority community bore the brunt.
Adilabad district superintendent of police M Srinivas said that the police have booked five cases following the incidents of attacks on properties and stone pelting in the town on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Stone pelting by the clashing mobs of two different communities left four policemen injured. They include the SP Srinivas and the deputy superintendent of police lakshminaryana.
According to the police trouble started when somebody posted a provocative video message targeting another community. Another person from the minority community responded to it with a lengthy audio message. The person responsible for posting the second message was identified as Abdul Hakeem while those responsible for the first video were yet to be identified or nabbed.
local VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders lodged a complaint demanding action against the person responsible for posting the audio message on Whatsapp. Around midnight on Saturday a mob, which included people from outside, started attacking the roadside shops and looting some of them, the police said. The policemen were outnumbered by the violent mob.
The trouble continued the next day when the groups of people gathered outside the Utnoor police station demanding action. Even as the top police officials including the SP and the DIG Ravi Kumar were in town, fresh violence broke out with the warring groups indulging in heavy stone pelting injuring policemen. The police resorted to tathicharge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mobs. Police has clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 and search was on for the culprits.
Utnoor is part of tribal belt in Adilabad and never in the past it had witnessed any communal trouble. “We are trying to restore the communal peace and amity by talking to the elders of both the communities”, said DIG Ravi Kumar who was camping in the town.